Google on Wednesday launched its digital wallet in India with local integration, nearly two years after the app was relaunched as a digital wallet platform in the US.
As TechCrunch exclusively reported last month, Google Wallet will operate in India alongside the existing Google Pay app and will remain the company's payments app in India. Google replaced its Pay app with Wallet in the US in February.
“Google Pay is not going anywhere. Google Pay is our primary payments use case,” Ram Papatla, Google's general manager and Android India engineering lead, said at a press conference in New Delhi. “The wallet is specifically tailored to consider use cases beyond payments.”
Google Wallet allows Android users in India to store and access boarding passes, gift cards, event tickets, and loyalty passes.All of this can be added via a QR code, barcode, or link shared in Gmail, or via a dedicated[Google ウォレットに追加]You can add it using the button.
The app also stores transportation tickets and lets you create passes from images containing barcodes or QR codes, such as airline boarding passes, luggage tags, and parking receipts.
Initially, Google Wallet will work with 20 brands including PVR Inox, Flipkart, Air India, MakeMyTrip, Pine Labs, and Ixigo. It has also been implemented by local transport operators such as Kochi Metro, Hyderabad Metro, VRL Travels and Abhibus. Additionally, the company has partnered with system integrators Wavelynx and Alert Enterprise to allow users to store and access their corporate badges.
According to the latest Counterpoint data shared with TechCrunch, Android continues to dominate the Indian smartphone market with a 93% market share. In 2023, 140 million of his 152 million smartphones shipped in the country were running his Android. According to the market research firm, smartphone penetration is 70% this year, up from 66% in 2021.
All this gives Google a solid reason to launch Wallet in India. However, it will face competition from Samsung Wallet, which the company offers as a one-stop digital wallet and payment app. Apple also offers a Wallet app for iPhone users in the country, but the app doesn't have much local integration. Instant messaging app WhatsApp also offers the ability to obtain virtual boarding passes and transport tickets from platforms such as MakeMyTrip and state metro operators.